Iowa Groups Tell Congressional Delegation Bill Would ‘Gut’ Clean Water Act

By Cami Koons

Environmental and community groups from Iowa sent a letter Thursday to the state’s congressional delegation, urging them to oppose a House bill that would “gut critical clean water protections.” 

In the letter, the groups say Iowa is “on the frontlines of a drinking water emergency” and the changes the bill plans to make to the Clean Water Act would exacerbate the problems. 

The Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today, or PERMIT, Act seeks to “limit the scope” of the Clean Water Act, which has been in place since 1972.

The bill would redefine navigable waters, the waters which the act applies, to exclude: waste treatment systems, waters that flow only after precipitation, prior converted cropland, groundwater, and “any other features” the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determine should be excluded. 

The letter in opposition, signed by Environmental Law & Policy Center, Food & Water Watch, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, and 11 other organizations, said the act would lead to more waterways unsafe for recreation, higher water treatment costs, more “dead zones” in rivers and lakes, and more “harmful pesticides, PFAS, and other forever toxic chemicals” in waterways. 

Patricia Fuller, an Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement member from Council Bluffs, said in a statement, “Now is not the time to make our waterways more vulnerable.” 

“We cannot continue to play politics when it comes to our impaired waters affecting our health, especially since we have the second highest rate of cancer in the nation,” Fuller said. “Iowa’s Congressional delegation should protect Iowa waters and vote no on weakening clean water protections.” 

The letter was addressed to U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn. All are Republicans. 

A spokesperson for Hinson said the representative was supportive of the PERMIT Act and other bills that get government out of the way of infrastructure projects in the state. 

Hinson has supported bills that would expand access to precision agriculture technology and preserve the Driftless area in Iowa, which the spokesperson said would improve drinking water quality. 

The other representatives did not respond to requests for comment. 

The letter noted that Iowa waterways have had repeatedly high nitrate concentrations, sometimes as much as double the amount permissible under federal safe drinking water standards. 

Municipal utilities in the state that rely on Iowa rivers for their drinking water have faced mounting costs to remove the contaminants from finished water supplies. In Des Moines, this led to about two months during which residents were not allowed to water their lawns so as to lower demand on the system, as it worked to remove nitrates from the water. 

Matt Ohloff, policy advocate at the Environmental Law & Policy Center said the PERMIT Act would “make Iowa’s already challenging water issues worse.” 

“This legislation is the most dangerous, misguided weakening of the Clean Water Act that Congress has considered in decades,” Ohloff said in a press release. “The PERMIT Act would dramatically narrow Clean Water Act protections that Iowans have relied upon for more than 50 years to safeguard Iowa’s rivers and lakes.” 

The PERMIT Act follows a series of attempts to reform the waters under the protection of the Clean Water Act. The waters of the United States, as these applicable waters are often referred to, have also been the subject of several lawsuits. Most recently, the Supreme Court overturned the EPA’s definition of wetlands, as they relate to the Clean Water Act protections. 

The letter said the Supreme Court’s decision has already “narrowed” the definition of protected waters. 

“We should be doing more to safeguard Iowa’s waterways and our health,” the letter said. “Instead, the PERMIT Act puts polluters ahead of our communities and clean water.” 

Irene DeMaris, the executive director of Iowa Faith & Climate Network, which also signed the letter, said “Clean water is not optional.” 

“It is essential to life, a gift of our planet, and a moral responsibility,” DeMaris said in a press release. “People of diverse faith and spirituality across Iowa are calling on Congress to reject this dangerous bill and instead strengthen protections for the rivers, lakes, and streams that sustain our families, communities, farmers, and future generations.” 

The Republican-led bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, and cosponsored by Republican representatives from Arkansas, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Utah. 

A press release from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure about its approval of the bill, said the bill “cuts red tape, streamlines reviews, and provides greater regulatory certainty.” 

Collins, who also chaired a subcommittee for the bill, said the bill provides “much needed reform” to the Clean Water Act that “will overhaul permitting processes and reduce burdens on permit seekers.” 

“As we enter a new era with a renewed focus on domestic energy production and growth, this legislation delivers the tools that our country needs to build faster, smarter, and safer,” Collins said in the release. 

The bill is on the House’s Union Calendar to be voted on, and members of Congress will return to Washington, D.C. next week. 

Additional groups that signed the letter in opposition to the bill: Des Moines County Farmers and Neighbors for Optimal Health, Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture, Iowa Environmental Council, Iowa Groundwater Association, Iowa Wildlife Federation, Jefferson County Farmers and Neighbors, Panora Conservation Chapter Izaak Walton League, Poweshiek CARES, Progress Iowa, and Raccoon River Watershed Association.

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